Unlikely pairing as Cavs and Bears meet for baseball title

Pleasant Valley is fighting for its postseason life, while East Stroudsburg South is trying to end a 25-year drought.

MIKE KUHNS

Pleasant Valley is fighting for its postseason life, while East Stroudsburg South is trying to end a 25-year drought.

Either way, a new baseball champion with be crowned in the Mountain Valley Conference tonight.

There's an easy argument to be made that neither team was supposed to be here. PV has a sub-.500 record, while the Cavaliers haven't won a conference title since winning the Centennial League in 1989.

Throw records and history out today because it doesn't mean much now.

Bears coach Charlie Inserra said on Monday, "why not us? Why can't we beat two good teams in a row?"

One down — a big one at that in Stroudsburg (15-5) — one to go.

Fourth-seeded Pleasant Valley (8-11), which was on the verge of playoff elimination but survived on a tiebreaker, stunned top-seeded Stroudsburg 4-1 on Tuesday. PV needs a victory in today's 4 p.m. title game at Pocono Mountain East to earn a berth in the District 11 playoffs.

The Cavaliers (12-9) have two wins over the Bears this year — beating PV pitchers up for 25 runs in two games (10-7 and 15-5).

"They're going to be confident going over there and playing them," Cavaliers coach Kane Furst said. "Hopefully, not too overconfident. They know that they've beaten them twice, so hopefully they can go out there and do it again."

Beating a team three times in one season is never easy. Beating a team like the Bears, who last won the MVC in 2010 and went on to win the District 11 championship, won't be an easy task.

The Bears are coming off a 4-1 semifinal win over Stroudsburg, beating staff ace Mike Nikorak, who has struggled with his command in back-to-back starts (16 walks combined).

PV's biggest issue may be pitching. The Bears have to find a way to keep the Cavaliers off the basepaths, a chore they struggled with this year.

Eastburg South's biggest challenge may be shaking off old demons. The Cavaliers have never played in this winner-take-all championship format.

Furst may need the leadership of some seniors — Benny Nieves, Adam Hennessy, Ryan Nazario and Seth Gable to name a few — to keep the emotions in check.

Furst said after Tuesday's 9-6, 10-inning semifinal victory over Pocono Mountain East that the team had bought into what he called, "a culture change."

And now they have a chance at making some history of their own.

"My first year as the head coach here after not having a whole lot of success in the past, this is huge," Furst said. "I can't really put words around it. We have unfinished business on Thursday, but this is a huge thing for our school and for us as a program."